Morro was faster than Zane first thought. He ducked out of the way and Morro sailed past him. The ghost landed on his feet. He growled and launched himself at Zane again, unleashing a fury of blows from the Sword of Sanctuary. Zane blocked them, but Morro was quick.

Morro hit Zane with a blast of wind, sending him off his feet. Zane fell hard, and the sai went flying from his hands. He recovered and dove for them and rolled to dodge Morro's sword a split second later.

Zane got back on his feet and slashed at Morro. He dodged the sai and thrust the sword at Zane.

The ice ninja grunted in pain as he felt the blade bite into his exoskeleton under his arm. He stepped back, clutching his wound. Looking at his hand, he saw his silver blood.

Morro aimed a flying kick at Zane, who saw him and dropped to avoid it just in time.

Morro hit a tree and pushed on it, landing a flying kick on Zane's back. The ice ninja fell facefirst into the dirt. He rolled over and saw Morro with the sword about finish him, but Zane pushed off the ground and kicked Morro in the jaw. The ghost reeled back, giving Zane time to recover his sai again. The two got up and stood to face each other.

"You're only making things harder for yourself." Morro snarled. "Now give it up!"

"Never!" Zane shouted. He threw a ball of ice at Morro. He deflected it with the sword, sending it into the trees.

Zane threw another one, this time knocking the Sword of Sanctuary from Morro's hand.

They both dove for the sword. Morro got there first and swung it at Zane, who barely had time to raise his sai to block it.

The blades locked. They started pushing back on each other to get the blades away from them.

Zane hadn't fully recovered from the previous fight, and he was exhausted. He pushed as hard as he could, but he could feel his knees start to go weak from the constant fighting.

Morro was pushing back against Zane and grinned when he felt the ice ninja start to give. They continued to struggle.

Then it all went horribly wrong.

Morro pushed hard enough, and Zane's knees buckled, making the Sword of Sanctuary slip and go plunging into Zane's side.

Zane dropped his sai and screamed in pain, which pierced the night air. He crumpled to the ground, clutching his side, silver blood flowing past his fingers. Warnings signs flashed in his vision as several of his systems were damaged. Morro smiled in bitter satisfaction.

"Scream all you want, ninja." Morro said, standing over him. "Your friends won't reach you in time to save you, I'll see to it personally."

"You two, go find the others and keep them busy!" He barked to two of the ghost soldiers behind them. "Keep them long enough for this one to bleed out and we'll go."

Kai's POV

"Kai, go check that house over there!" Cole said.

I raced off to carry out Cole's orders. "Hello?" I called as I carefully opened the door, hand on my sword handle in case if any ghost decided to jump out at me. As my eyes adjusted to the dimness inside the house, I saw that the place was ransacked. I searched the rest of the rooms, but coming back into the living room I saw something that the first time I completely overlooked.

There, huddled in the corner, was a black figure. It was a man. He turned to face me, his eyes round with fear.

"Sir, are you okay?" I asked. The man tried to speak.

"T-there were g-ghosts. They just rammed in the place-" he stopped.

"Look, we're here to help. Do you have a family?" I asked.

The man calmed down and nodded. "There's an emergency meeting place in the forest. My family could be there." The man quickly got up, but before he could step out the door, I stopped him.

"I'll go with you, just in case if we run into any ghosts." I told him.

"Okay."

We left the house and he led me to the edge of the forest where a path began. It was dark, so I lit my fist to use it for light.

We walked together for some time when we saw light shining through the thick foliage.

"We're almost there." He told me.

Soon the path emerged into a clearing, where the rest of the villagers were with lanterns.

The man I had helped was reunited with his family. Seeing my work done, I turned and headed back to the village. As I came closer, I heard clashing weapons and picked up my pace, only to find Cole and Jay not fighting as I thought, but looking for me.

"Where were you?!" Jay said, stomping over to me.

"I was helping someone get to their family." I snapped at him, annoyed with him acting like I had done something wrong. "So cool it before I squeeze your throat until it turns as big as a balloon and pops!"

Cole got between us. "Both of you, stop!" He said. "Arguing doesn't help anything!"

Jay and I both sighed. "Fine." I said. "Whatever."

"Good." Cole said. "Now lets-"

He was cut off as a scream tore through the air. It wasn't a ghost nor a villager. It seemed to come from where Zane was resting.

Suddenly it clicked in my brain, and so did it for Cole and Jay too because their eyes grew wide with horror.

Not speaking a word, we turned and sprinted to where we last saw Zane, driven by fear for our brother.

Cole's POV

"Both of you, stop!" I said, putting my arms between them before Kai burned Jay into a crisp. "Arguing doesn't help anything!" I kept my arms in between them in case if Jay decided to slap Kai or if Kai was going to punch Jay. They both huffed and Kai muttered something under his breath.

"Good" I began. "Now let's-"

I was cut off by a scream. I froze on the spot. It sure wasn't a ghost scream, but it was horrid regardless. Believe me, you'd know a ghost scream when you hear one, if you've ever heard one. It seemed to come from where Zane was resting.

Zane.

Suddenly it hit me. Panic seized my throat as we ran to see what had happened.

Jay's POV

I was itching to slap Kai! Running off like that without telling us?! Is he insane?! Helping a villager I can understand, but TELL US FIRST!

When Kai said "Cool off before I take your throat and squeeze it until your head grows as big a ballon and POPS!" I was about to lunge at him until Cole intervened. Basically we got the idea that he meant knock it off or I'll thump both of you in the head. I stared angrily into Kai's eyes, Kai returning my gaze. Once we both cooled off, I heard Cole say the beginning of "Now let's go.", but a scream interrupted him.

'That was NOT a ghost's scream whatsoever.' I thought. Then what was i- I stopped what I was thinking as I read the looks on the other guys' faces and them looking in a particular direction. Suddenly it hit me. Something must've happened to Zane!

I began to freak out, and started to run when the others did. The tension was replaced with a intense feeling of dread.

No one's POV

The three ninja raced to where Zane was last seen. They were met by the ghosts Morro had sent to hold them off, but defeated them after a quick battle.

They finally reached where Zane was and gaped in horror.

Zane lay on the ground, eyes closed, clutching his side. Silver blood stained his gi and covered the ground around him. Morro stood over him with the Sword of Sanctuary, its blade stained with Zane's blood. Both of them were surrounded by ghost soldiers.

"ZANE!" Jay cried. "NO!"

Morro's head snapped up. He saw the ninja and he smirked.

"Not even the four of you stand in my way of reaching my ultimate goal." He hissed. "Or three, to be exact."

At the sound of Jay's voice, Zane opened his eyes. With blurry vision, he saw his teammates and tried to get up, groaning as his wound throbbed.

"Get down!" Morro snapped. He kicked Zane in the back, making him fall to the ground.

"Don't touch him!" Cole yelled, gripping his scythe.

"Yeah!" Kai added "If you want to hurt Zane, you're gonna have to get through us first!"

Morro shrugged. "Have it your way then."

He snapped his fingers, and the ghost soldiers began advancing on them. The three ninja got back to back, ready to fight.

Morro rolled Zane onto his back and put a foot on his chest.

"You lured your friends to their deaths because you couldn't keep quiet." He said. He raised the sword. "Die in despair!"

But before Morro could deal the death blow, Jay came flying through the air and leapt on Morro's back, whacking him with his nunchucks.

Morro reeled back, clawing at Jay. But the blue ninja didn't give.

"GET OFF ME!" The ghost commander shrieked.

Cole and Kai were trying desperately to fight their way through the ghosts to get to Zane, but they just couldn't get to him.

Cole tried to see Zane, who was laying on the ground, helpless. But with Morro distracted by Jay, he might be able to get away.

Then Cole said something to Zane that he would regret horribly later.

"Zane!" The earth ninja called. "Run!"

Zane struggled to get up on his knees.

"I-I can't leave you!" He barely managed to say.

"Don't worry about us!" Cole shouted over the sounds of battle. "Just RUN!"

With all the strength he had left, Zane got on his feet and ran as best as he could.

Morro finally pried Jay off of him and saw the ice ninja getting away.

"DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!" Morro roared. "BRING HIM BACK TO ME ALIVE!"

Zane looked behind him to see two ghosts pursuing him. He ran down a dirt path that led southward into the forest. He had to run, run or be killed. He had to run somewhere. But where?